Katju said the arrest of Siladitya Chowdhury, who was dubbed as a Maoist by Mamata Banerjee at a rally after he asked what steps she was taking to help farmers, amounted to “blatant misuse” of state machinery and “flagrant violation” of constitutional and human rights.

NEW DELHI: Accusing Mamata Banerjee of being “totally dictatorial, intolerant and whimsical”, Press Council of India chiefMarkandey Katju, who had once praised her,today unleashed stinging criticism of West Bengalchief minister over arrest of a man who asked her a question during a rally.Katju said the arrest of Siladitya Chowdhury, who was dubbed as a Maoist by the West Bengal chief minister at a rally after he asked what steps she was taking to help farmers, amounted to “blatant misuse” of state machinery and “flagrant violation” of constitutional and human rights.

“Her action is most undemocratic to say the least,” he said in a statement today, holding that she is totally undeserving to be a political leader in a democratic country.

The former Supreme Court judge cautioned the administrative and police authorities there against taking her “illegal orders”, warning that they could suffer the same fate as Nazi criminals did for acting on Hitler’s directions.

“I had earlier given a statement in favour of Mamata Banerjee because I thought one should see good points in a person’s personality also.

“But now I have changed my opinion and believe that she is totally undeserving to be a political leader in a democratic country like India since she has no respect for constitutional and civil rights of citizens and is totally dictatorial, intolerant, and whimsical in her behaviour,” he said.

Expressing his “shock” over the arrest of the man, Katju said earlier also she has behaved in a high handed and dictatorial manner.

She had branded a college student Taniya Bharadwaj during a TV programme as a Maoist merely because she had asked an innocuous question. She had also got one Jadavpur University professor arrested, Katju said.

The former Supreme Court judge warned the administrative and police authorities that they could face criminal proceedings for taking “illegal orders”.

“At the Nuremburg Trials the Nazi war criminals took the plea that orders were orders and they were only carrying out the orders of Hitler, their superior, but this plea was rejected and they were hanged. The West Bengal officials should take a lesson from the Nuremburg verdict if they do not wish to suffer a similar fate,” he said.

Farmer arrested for ‘daring to question’ Mamata Banerjee

A man who asked West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee at a public meeting what steps she was taking to help farmers has been arrested by the police.The man Siladitya Chowdhury had told the chief minister at her public meeting at the former Maoist stronghold of Belpahari on August 8 that farmers were dying and asked what steps her government were taking since ‘empty promises were not enough’.The chief minister had been taken aback and claimed that the man was a Maoist. She had asked the police to arrest the man.

The police had detained Chowdhury, a resident of Noawa village under Binpur police station, but had let him go after questioning.

He was arrested last night from his home, police sources said.

Chowdhury was produced in the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Priyajit Chatterjee’s court today and remanded to 14 days in judicial custody.

He was charged under sections 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant in discharge of duty), 333 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant in discharging public duty), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharging duty), 447 (criminal trespass) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC.

Earlier this year on May 19, the chief minister had accused a student on a TV talk show of being a Maoist, when questioned about what she was doing about the security of women after the Park Street rape of an Anglo-Indian woman.